Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them secretly to give to you. That almost always involves a betrayal of trust. ~ Aldirch Ames
Another former head of an intelligence agency has come out with a promisingly tell-all book on the policies of the erstwhile establishment, when he was in office. B Raman, the former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat has published a book, The Kaoboys of R&AW- Down Memory Lane which has created ripples in the book market as well as ruffled a few feathers in the higher echelons of power. Apart from having made a killing on a book deal, B Raman is also a noted columnist and writes for rediff.com.
Many might criticize the author for opening old wounds, digging out graves for skeletons and mud slinging against a certain section of the polity. But taking his words for it, our intelligence agencies have a long way to go before they become a force that will spell fear in the minds of the enemies. I have not read the book, but from the excerpts published in newspapers, I need to raise a few concerns here.
One part of the book mentions, penetration of our high level offices by the French intelligence and the CIA. Now penetration by intelligence agencies is common, but do we have an effective policies and checks in place to deal with it? And how good are we in penetrating high level offices in other countries? Indian intelligence agencies have their tentacles well spread in our neighbouring countries, we need to have that, because we are surrounded by unstable states and almost all of them are a haven for anti-India activities. But what about the US, the UK and the EU? I don't know, but I have read reports that RAW agents have preferred to quit service and settle down in these countries of their assignment. That is wasting good talent.
Also due to the polarised nature of the Indian polity, we also have 'hindutva' sympathizers in the establishment and they are in the thick of things whenever the pro-hindutva lobby is in power. This is quite harmful as the national interest takes a backseat and bigoted views of the 'advisors' to the government take centre-stage. The resources available to our intelligence agencies are probably comparable to anything else in the world, but many a times the talent and the resources are used to settle personal scores between the political class. These resources are channelised to spy on rival politicians and to blackmail them into supporting a particular election campaign. Another instance of disregard to the intelligence agencies was during the campaign to elect the next president this year. Pratibha Patil, who eventually did manage to get past the post, had been embroiled in many controversial land deals in the name of her family members. The IB had a complete dossier on her and her family's records, but the Government looked the other way. What we had on our hands was a very disgraceful presidential election fought(yes, fought) between two very unworthy candidates, none of them deserving a stay at Raisina Hill.
What this shows is a nation gripped with strife between the protectors of its citizens; though this may be true for all intelligence agencies everywhere across the world. The world of international espionage is quite murky but India is far behind in keeping a finger on the going-ons in many places and this is quite detrimental to our national security.
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